BY YOUNG ENTREPRENEUR COUNCIL for INC.
In today’s digital-first world, trust has become a precious commodity. Buyers are savvier and more suspicious. The good news? You can still earn their loyalty. Here are what I see as the four pillars of business-to-business brand trust and some practical tips on how you can create healthy business relationships with your customers.
Four Pillars of B2B Brand Trust
Trust comes from showing competence, integrity, reliability and empathy in all interactions with B2B buyers.
1. Competence
You need to demonstrate that you are a capable and knowledgeable partner. This means building a team of experts, staying up-to-date on industry trends and always providing objective and effective solutions to customers’ problems. Your goal as a business is to prove to your customers that you’re their best shot.
2. Integrity
In my experience, B2B customers are much harder to close than B2C. There’s no room for impulse purchases or one-time transactions because every stakeholder is interested in long-term cooperation. That’s why integrity is crucial for building strong partnerships. In practice, preserving integrity means being honest, keeping your word and sticking to your principles–even if there’s money to be lost.
3. Reliability
Your customers are counting on you; otherwise, they won’t be able to deliver quality work every time. Besides sticking to deadlines and delivering a little bit more than you’ve agreed on, expect the unexpected. Have a contingency plan for when things could go wrong and be ready for every possible scenario.
4. Empathy
Don’t overlook the significance of empathy in building trust. At our company, we always say that our client’s success is our success, and we treat every project as our very own. People can feel whether you are invested in their success and well-being. The financial aspect of a business is important, but it can’t be everything.
How To Build Brand Trust
Here’s what you can do as a company to establish strong relationships with your customers and attract a bigger audience.
- Create a Professional Social Media Presence. Your social media channels will find their way into branded search results when your potential customers do their research, so it’s essential to create accurate and compelling copy for all of your platforms. Establish a tone of voice that’s consistent with your brand, and add professional-quality visual elements and layouts that communicate your brand image.
- Use Content Marketing To Build Thought Leadership. Modern customers prefer to do their own research before reaching out to a sales rep, so consider giving them everything they are looking for. Become a thought leader in your industry by sharing insightful blogs, podcasts, videos and e-books to educate your audience and help them solve their problems. It’s an excellent way to prove your expertise and highlight your brand values.
- Provide Lots of Social Proof. B2B buyers are not robots. They are not exempt from the basic principles of psychology that very much apply in digital marketing. When it comes to making a decision, the human brain seeks a mental shortcut that allows it to assess options and choose a solution without excessive mental strain. Social proof is the easiest way to minimize that effort. So when you showcase a five-star review on your site, you provide extra context on why you’re the right business to partner with.
- Stay Consistent With All Your Efforts. While all of these tips are essential, none of them will work if you aren’t consistent. Invest time in developing a comprehensive brand strategy that includes everything from tone of voice to visual elements. Stick to the strategy across all of your channels, and make sure that your internal team follows your brand values and goals continuously.
- Keep Your Word. This means being open and honest about what you can and can’t do, what your limitations are, what your pricing models and payment terms are and how you handle customer service issues. When you’re open about these things, you’re demonstrating that you have nothing to hide.
Bear in mind that once you win a customer’s trust, you must work to keep it. Continue to build your online marketing presence, piece by piece, on a regular schedule, engaging new customers and reengaging the old ones. If you can retain their attention and interest in the long run, you’ll see the results.
